“So what all does everyone have to do for the rest of the day?” Sunset asked of her friends, her guitar case on her back under her backpack.

“I’ve got bakery duty today!” Pinkie exclaimed jubilantly, her own book bag hanging off a strap from her shoulder. “I’m gonna make a huge batch of my holiday ginger snaps!”

“Ah’ve gotta head home and help mah siblings finish up with their chores…” Applejack replied with a shrug, her hands buried in her winter coat jacket as everyone walked. “What about you Dash, what’ve you got goin’ on?”

“More guitar practice, obviously. Can’t be getting rusty in the off season right?” the prismatic head replied with a casualness that indicated not a care in the world. Sunset and friends halted their walk from the doors to their high school and took up their places at the statue’s pedestal/portal to Equestria.

“I was wondering something, Twilight.” Rarity spoke up from her seated position in the snow, her self designed winter outfit working wonders to keep the designer warm even sat on the snow. “I was hoping you could come to the shop and help me organize my inventory. I’ve already got to start getting the spring lines up for the coming season.”

“Already? Rarity, it literally just became winter!” the purple haired girl with rather large glasses complained with rosy cheeks.

“I’m sure you’ve already seen other stores with their Valentine’s Day inventory up, yes? I’m already behind as it is with mid-terms coming up so soon.” Rarity protested defiantly, her purple gloved hands on her her hips.

“Ugh, fine. I should still be able to get all my homework done while I'm there.” Twilight sighed in reply, making Sunset smirk in reply. She was so much Like Equestrian Twilight, and yet so different.

“What about you? What’re you doing the rest of the day Fluttershy?” Sunset turned towards the only other girl who’d as of yet remained silent in her rather over-stuffed coat.

“Oh, uhm, I've got some things to do at the shelter, but after that I'm mostly free.” The young woman’s tiny voice barely escaped the confines of the coat itself and the gently blowing wind certainly didn’t help.

“Cool, then would you like to go see a movie with me or something? I’ve got absolutely nothing to do all day so I'd likely end up lounging around at home by myself.” Sunset explained as she stretched out against the portal surface. Somehow something Twilight did to the portal on her side made it so that the portal wasn’t normally accessible from this side; at least not without some work.

“I’ll have to see how long I'm held up helping the animals, but I'll let you know when I'm done and we can go from there.” Fluttershy replied with a small smile, barely noticeable. From the corner of her eye, Sunset noticed Pinkie shift herself a couple inches to the side from across the circle the girls were in.

“What’s up Pinkie?” Twilight inquired, adjusting her glasses as they slowly slid down the bridge of her nose.

Rather than audibly reply Pinkie shuffled closer to Rainbow Dash, making the girl look back at the partier uncomfortably.

All of a sudden, a rippling in Sunset’s back was the only warning before a figure suddenly flew out of the portal, shoulder rolling past where Pinkie was seated only moments earlier before coming to a skidding halt on it’s back.

***

Yeah, that wasn’t fun. I decided as I slowly sat up and dusted myself off of snow, subtly ensuring that my firearm hadn’t come loose in the fall. When id been shot out the exit to the portal, I had narrowly escaped landing headfirst on a girl in all pink. The weird thing was how as I flew past her, and I can’t be certain but, I thought I saw her wink at me.

“OK, now who is that?” a female voice inquired of her friends, her voice giving me the nagging feeling that she was a rather athletic type of girl.

“I have no idea.” Another female replied; calm, mature and her voice indicated she’d seen some things in her life. “Twilight didn’t give me any notification that anyone else would be coming through.”

“Weiss? Where’re you at?” I looked around my surroundings as I ignored the conversation behind me.

“Woah!” Weiss voice exclaimed from behind me as she appeared through the portal behind me, landing firmly on her face in the snow. “Ow, why’d she have to throw us through like that?”

Picking myself off the snow, I approached the circle of girls in their winter gear, all watching me in shocked curiosity. Picking Weiss up from the snow, I was rather surprised that Weiss had become a dog.

“Yeah I'm wondering that as well.” I replied, brushing her fur off before hugging her to my chest. “Excuse us ladies.” I bid the girls around me as we exited their group and wandered off a ways. “Right, so now we’ve gotta find this Sunset Shimmer and find out what they need.”

“Any idea where to start looking?” Weiss inquired, looking around our surroundings.

“Maybe the high school?” I suggested, looking up at the massive building nearby.

“Or you could just ask me.” the calm and mature voice spoke up, her voice close to my back. “Why are you looking for Sunset Shimmer?”

“I’ve been sent over to help her out with something.” I replied, turning back to greet the voice’s owner. “Can you point me in the right direction?” I requested immediately taking in the girl’s red and yellow hair, her smooth skin slowly paling in the coming winter and her deep red, not quite crimson, winter coat. She was quite attractive, to be frank.

“I- uhm, I’m her.” the girl replied, pushing a strand of red and yellow hair out of her face to let her hat keep it in place for a minute before falling back out of place.

“Miss Shimmer then, pleasure to meet you.” I shot out a hand in greeting which the girl took and shook tentatively.

“Likewise, Mr…” Sunset replied, dropping her hand from my own into her coat pocket. I took the chance to quickly unzip my jacket just enough to place Weiss within and zipped up once again, letting Weiss’s head poke out under my own.

“Just call me Captain. Equestria doesn’t seem let let me use my name.” I shrugged as it took me a moment to get used to the lack of dragon like features jabbing into my chest.

“Alright, Captain, it’s nice to meet you. I suppose Twilight Sparkle sent you over?” Sunset asked, turning back towards her compatriots. “Would you like to meet our friends?”

“Might as well but if you don’t mind, I'd like to head inside. It’s still fall in Equestria so I've not yet acclimated to the winter weather.” I requested as Sunset lead me back to her friends.

“Sure, we can head out into town somewhere.” Sunset quietly told me before stepping ahead of me to address her now stood friends. “Girls, this is Captain. Apparently Equestria doesn’t let him use his name.”

“Well now that’s just weird.” an orange cloaked country girl remarked, tipping her hat at me. “Nice te meet’cha. Ah’m Applejack.”

“I know. Nice to meet you Applejack.” I replied, shooting out a hand once again for a second shake.

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pink girl from earlier proclaimed, wrapping me up in a bear hug while being careful for Weiss. I managed to return the bear hug with just as much pressure as she did, making her eyes bug out in the process before letting her go.

“Friendly.” I muttered as Pinkie was replaced by a very proper girl with purple hair flowing from under her cap.

“Rarity, a pleasure darling.” Rarity introduced herself, offering a hand in propriety. I returned the pleasure in equal fashion, giving a gentle bow with her hand in my own.

“A pleasure, Rarity.”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash.” the prismatic head of which the athletic voice originated from exclaimed as she all but muscled into introductions. Dropping a hand into my own, she all but challenged me to a test of grips with a smirk as we shook hands.

Her smirk all but disappeared as I clamped down on her hand with years of military experience before letting her go to massage feeling into her hand again.

“Dude, you’ve got a killer hand-shake!” Dash announced, shaking her hand out.

“Comes with the territory.” I replied, pointing out my rank patch.

“Honestly, I thought that was just for show. Didn’t think you were actually military.” Dash explained with a smirk.

“I didn’t think the Equestrian Guard had army jackets like that…” Sunset remarked, looking over my attire.

“I’m not with the Equestrian Guard. I’m from my own human world with my own years of military experience.” I explained while a girl in soft flowing pink hair watched me silently. “And you are?”

“I- I- I’m Fluttershy.” the girl replied in a tiny, soft voice. I nearly missed it.

“Nice to meet you.” I finally completed our introductions, which let many of the girls all announce their intentions to leave before heading off to trudge through the snow.

“Right, I didn’t think I was that repulsive that everyone felt they needed to run off after just meeting me.” I remarked as I watched five of the girls walk off in different directions, leaving me with Sunset Shimmer.

“No, it’s not that. They all had things they needed to do today and your arrival was rather unexpected.” Sunset replied, turning to face me directly. “I’m sure you’re a perfectly respectable person.”

“Well then you don’t know him yet.” Weiss quipped, making Sunset stifle a giggle and a raised eyebrow/smirk combination from me.

“Hush you.” I demanded in humor. “I can probably still toss you back into Equestria.”

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Weiss waved off my comment with a paw. “My question is why I'm a dog in this world.”

“Twilight and Spike had similar questions when they first came over to our world.” Sunset remarked. “Care to join me in doing something? Perhaps find someplace warm to hang out and get to know each other?”

“Might as well. Lead on madam.” I pushed a hand forward to indicate her to lead on.

“Right, so then how about the bakery where Pinkie works? I can get us a slight discount on some of their stuff; if Pinkie doesn’t use us as taste testers anyways.”

“Works for me.” I followed after Sunset in the same direction that Pinkie had run off.

~~~

“Wow, you’ve certainly been around, haven’t you?” Sunset’s head was sat in her palm, resting on the table with our drinks provided by Sunset between us. Her eyes were wide and sparkling in wonder at my tale of how I'd come upon Equestria.

“Yeah, I suppose so.” I sighed, my arms crossed over my chest with my mug of coffee in my hand, Weiss hiding in my jacket by request of the store owners. “Still can’t discount your own experiences in the last few months.”

“No, I suppose not.” Sunset chuckled, sitting up to take a drink of her hot chocolate. “So Twilight didn’t say why she was sending you over here huh?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know her well enough to think she may have had malicious intent or something. For all I know she could have sent me over here to get rid of the only invading human in Equestria.” I replied, setting my mug back down on the table and crossed arms again with Weiss napping peacefully on my chest.

“I don’t think Twilight would do anything that nefarious. I’m sure Princess Luna wouldn’t allow that, don’t you think?” Sunset suggested sitting back in her chair with her arm over the back, her leg crossed over the other.

“I‘ll give you that. I’m sure Princess Luna would be quite put off if Twilight tried to remove her interest from the Castle.” I nodded her a point, looking around the room at the other patrons quietly conversing.

“But to answer your earlier question, I have absolutely no idea why Twilight sent me here.” I finally returned to her original question as I retrieved my coffee for another mouthful.

“OK, well we don’t have any sort of crisis going on at the moment. Wanna go see a movie or something?” Sunset offered, absently tracing the rim of her mug with her finger. “I’m still buying.”

“Wow, you keep offering to pay for me for things like this people might start talking.” I remarked with a smirk as Sunset’s face flushed red with a blush. “But if you’re still offering, then I shall accept. I don’t think the theater will allow animals though. Would I be able to leave her at your place?”

“Well, you’re ex-military right? What if you just told the staff that Weiss is your support dog for PTSD?” Sunset suggested, raising an eyebrow and her mug.

“Technically wouldn’t be far from the truth I suppose.” I shrugged in reply. “I still need to drop something off somewhere safe though…” I replied, my arm brushing against my holster under my zipped up coat.

“Well, I suppose we could make a stop at my place. I still have to drop off my guitar and backpack anyways and I wanna get changed into better clothing.” Sunset stood up from her chair and zipped her coat up, covering the red and yellow sun printed on her light blue shirt.

“Then I shall follow after you.” I remarked, leaving my mostly finished coffee on the table with Sunset’s empty mug.

Giving Weiss a gentle shake, the small dog poked her head and front paws out of the neck hole freeing up my arms to stuff my hands into my gloves again, then into my pockets finally.

~~~

“So this is me.” Sunset announced, opening the door into an apartment on the third floor. The primary of the room was a bachelorette pad I suppose, a kitchen/living room/bedroom all in the same semi-large room with a bathroom to the right and laundry services to the left. “You’ll have to forgive the mess, I don’t normally have visitors over; certainly not of the… male persuasion.”

“Think nothing of it.” I waved her off as I entered after her and shut the door behind me. “Try living in a barracks with both genders occupying space. The only reason why it was always so clean was because I ordered them too.” I added, opening my jacket to let Weiss out and explore. Pulling my jacket open entirely while Sunset pulled her boots off, I hung my jacket on the doorknob and turned back to Sunset, now with my revolver holstered in the open.

“Woah! What’re you doing packing something like that around?” Sunset demanded in a whisper. “You were walking around the school and cafe with that thing under your coat?”

“Indeed I was, yes.” I replied as I began the task of removing the holster from my shoulders altogether. “Is there somewhere I can put this? Preferably out of sight?”

“Ahh, yeah. Top of the closet I guess.” Sunset replied, pulling open a coat closet before taking my weapon from me to place it on the top shelf and closing the door behind her. “Just, uhm, wait here while I change.”

“Absolutely.” I replied, leaning against the nearest wall with my arms and legs crossed. “Weiss, hang back here while she changes please.” I requested of the small white dog. Sunset and Weiss traded places, however while Weiss came and dutifully sat down at my feet, Sunset turned a corner towards the bedroom portion of her room to change.

“So why did you bring the gun anyways?” Weiss whispered up at me in curiosity.

“I honestly have no idea. It was an idea from Princess Luna.” I replied, sliding down the wall to sit in a crouch next to Weiss. “I’ve gotta say, you’re so adorable like this.”

“Oh psh, I'm always adorable.” Weiss waved a paw sarcastically, though her wagging tail told me she was feeling great for the compliment.

“And modest too.” I added in jest, making Weiss and I share a chuckle. A buzzing from the table interrupted our entertainment and had both of us looking up at it.

“Oh dangit, that’s my phone. Could you step into the bathroom so I can grab it please? I’m not exactly decent.” Sunset requested from around the corner.

“Yep, gimme a second.” I replied, scooping up Weiss to carry her into the bathroom, turning on the light in the process. “‘Kay, you’re good!”

“Thanks!” Sunset called out before the buzzing ceased. “Hello? Oh hey Fluttershy, what’s up?” I mostly tried to tune out her conversation, but with a lack of anything to do at the moment, the silence didn’t make it easy for me. “Oh you are, huh? No that’s okay, I’ve got an alternative. No, I don’t mind Fluttershy, I promise. Alright, talk to you later.” a clap of the phone indicated the end of the call even if Sunset’s words hadn’t.

“Can I come out now?” I called out close to the doorway.

“Just a second!” came the answer. “Okay, I'm good!” I picked myself off the wall and exited the washroom, killing the lights in the process with Weiss trailing behind me.

Sunset Shimmer had changed herself into some kind of magenta halter with her sun printed on the chest over a orange skirt with a magenta and bright yellow streak going down the length of it with a pair of boots with, you guessed it, more magenta.

“You going to be warm enough in that?” I asked, tossing Sunset her coat before retrieving my own to pull over my shoulders. Weiss lifted herself up onto my leg to be picked up and once I'd zipped up most of the way I did as she requested and stuffed her into the warmth.

“Sure, it wasn’t that cold outside.” Sunset glanced at me over her shoulder as she pulled her coat back on. “Besides, I've got some shorts on just in case.”

“Fair enough. Question, will we be walking?” I inquired, pausing at the door while Sunset pulled her phone from her pocket again to look at something.

“Nope, I've got transportation. Do you drive?” she asked, picking her keys from a bowl while her eyes were glued to her phone.

“I can drive, but my question is does this world need documentation to say I can drive?” I retorted as Sunset pulled the door to her apartment open and stepped out, aiming a different direction than we’d first gone to get here. I stepped out after her and pulled her door shut behind me before resorting to a short jog to get back up to Sunset as she texted away.

“Nope, if you can drive that’s good enough.” Sunset remarked once I'd gotten back to her and she’d put her phone away. “I’m just expecting to be on and off the phone quite a bit here and I don’t like driving distracted. I’ll try and navigate you so don’t worry.” Sunset explained as we approached to an elevator and hit the call button.

“Fair enough. Is your vehicle going to be able to survive the snow?” my question seemed to have had the effect of humoring miss Shimmer as she noticeably smirked in response, stepping into the elevator car and selecting the P2 button.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” I stepped in next to the girl for the ride down, leaning against the steel railings.

“It’ll be fine.” Sunset Shimmer replied assuredly. The doors slid open and we stepped out into the underground parkade, a number of vehicles reminiscent of many of my worlds vehicles scattered around. One of considerable note to me was the yellow truck a ways away that looked like the Ford/Hennessy VelociRaptor 600 with a full off-road kit.

“Ohhh niiiice.” I whispered to myself as we crossed a couple lanes. “Love the VelociRaptor.”

“Oh? Is that what it’s called in your world?” Sunset looked back at me, spinning on her heels to walk backwards ahead of me.

“Yeah, they’re the newer model of the Raptor. Rivals the other off-road capable vehicles in it’s factory settings. You start modifying that bastard out with it’s off-road kit and then beyond…” I was beginning to daydream of a VelociRaptor in a dark blue with the LED light bar across the top and on it’s grill, some larger studded tires with highly upgraded suspension…

“In this world they’re called XLR8s. I know, so creative.” Sunset grinned as she tossed me her keys.

“Are they still made to order? I think they had to be ordered in my world and you could only find the base models at a dealership.” I noticed that we turned down into the same lane that the VelociRaptor/XLR8 sat in which had the effect of my eyes never tearing from it’s body.

“I have no idea. I bought mine second hand.” Sunset replied with a huge grin. My eyes went wide and my mouth dropped into half disbelief/half anticipation.

“That’s your truck?” I asked anxiously with a huge grin on my face. “You own a Ford/Hennessy VelociRaptor 600 with off-road kit that you want me to drive?”

“Yeah, that’s my truck. Yes I want you to drive. Is that going to be a problem?” Sunset’s reply came in the form of me zipping off ahead of her, narrowly skidding to a halt with my arms resting on the nose of the vehicle in a wide hug; squishing Weiss in the process.

“Ohhhh it’s been much too long.” I whispered lovingly before Weiss pushed me off the nose of the truck.

“Well? Are you just going to ogle it or are you going to get inside and start it up?” Weiss insisted as she continued to try and pull herself out of the narrow gap between me and the truck. I pulled myself off and almost skipped to the door, hitting the unlock to hop inside as Sunset did the same once she’d cleared off the passenger seat.

“Wow, I would hate to have been your girlfriend if you ever bought yourself this truck. I’d not get laid for months!” Sunset noted as she got buckled in and rested against the door while I took a moment to myself to examine the apparently just cleaned custom wood panelling and the chrome interior instruments.

“Nah, you probably wouldn’t be getting laid very often in the first place. I’m asexual so I don’t normally feel the need for such activities.” I replied in all seriousness, making both females in the truck with me raise an eyebrow. I returned to gently caressing the wheel, the dash, the middle console and even the seat itself.

“Wow, more information than I ever thought I'd get from a guy so soon after meeting him. Are you going to turn the truck on? It only gets better from here you know.” Sunset’s grin matched my own as I inserted the key to listen to the dinging for but a moment before I engaged the ignition.

I can’t lie, I was quite aroused as the engine roared to life.

“Oh, fuck yes!” I whispered as Sunset and Weiss shifted away from me slightly.

“Are you going to need a moment? Do I have to clean up the seat now?” she asked in genuine entertained concern.

“Probably not the seat but I’ll clean up the floor mat when we’re done here.” I replied in all humor, pulling out of the stall and aimed for the exit denoted by signs.

“You’re kidding right?” Sunset’s face dropped all entertainment with this. I glanced at the girl momentarily with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

“Yes I'm kidding.” I said, turning onto a ramp upwards towards the surface. “I don’t normally like Fords, but the VelociRaptor and it’s little brother Raptor are easily my two favourite trucks in the world.” I explained as we pulled out into blinding light and directly over a rather large snow pile lining the streets.

“Why’s that?” Weiss inquired from my coat with her little adorable head poking out through the zipper.

“Because they are performance trucks. They have all the power and capabilities of a truck, but this beast can go from 0-100km in 5.9 seconds flat. Off-road. That just doesn’t happen and I love it!” I exclaimed, swinging the back end out as we turned onto the street with a rooster tail being thrown up behind me.

“The same is said here.” Sunset announced, grinning once again before turning back to her phone. “Not many trucks are performance. They’re all for power and torque, how much they can pull and how far. You can’t do much to them to make them go faster without starting to turn them into rally vehicles unfit for the road.”

“No, no you cannot. Which is where this baby shines.” I agreed, lovingly stroking the dash. “So which way are we going?” I turned back to face Sunset, having pulled up at an intersection without knowing where to go.

“Left then left again down the main drag. Keep going for a kilometer then turn left again and stay on that road for about 7 kilometers. The theater will appear soon enough, you can’t miss it.” Sunset replied without looking up from her phone. I nodded acceptance and did as asked, turning left onto another street then left again at a set of lights onto the main drag.

I love this truck.

~~~

“So what do you wanna see?” Sunset asked, looking up at the listing with me at her side, clutching my arm for warmth.

“I have no idea what any of these movies are about so you pick.” I replied, still trying to make heads or tails of the titles and the descriptions. “Just one request though, nothing related to the holidays.”

“Aww, why not?” Sunset pouted momentarily before chuckling and pulling on my arm to lead me inside.

“The holidays don’t exactly hold a lot of cheer and good will for me.” I explained calmly as I pulled open the door for Sunset to walk through, Weiss’s head still poking out of my coat.

“Sir, I'm sorry but there are no animals allowed in the building.” An attendant notified me as we stepped up to him.

“Weiss is a PTSD service dog for my friend who’s ex-military. She’s been trained to remain completely silent if he tells her too.” Sunset explained for me as I opened my mouth to do the same.

“Oh, of course. Sorry sir, my mistake. Go ahead and I’ll let management know ahead of time so you don’t have any more problems.” the male teen replied, letting us through before getting on the radio to notify the rest of staff.

“OK, so no Christmas movies for Captain. What about that one?” Sunset suggested, pointing up at a huge screen playing some ad for a film playing at this theater.

“Looks interesting enough, any idea what it’s about?” I looked down at the girl still clinging to my arm despite being indoors.

“Not a clue!” Sunset reported and shrugged before pulling me to one of six electronic ticket kiosks set up in a circle to facilitate faster ticket retrievals. “That one it is then!” she decided as she yet again pulled her phone from her pocket before actually purchasing our tickets.

“You know, I'm starting to feel a tad guilty for having you buy everything for me.” I mumbled just under my breath so that Sunset could hear me. “I realize that with this not being a date I don’t have to feel any obligations, I still am feeling the sense that I should try to pay for something.”

“I get that; but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you’re broke, right?” the girl handed me my ticket and took my arm again, leading me towards concessions.

“Yes, which makes me feel even worse in all honesty.” I admitted morosely.

“Well don’t worry. I’m sure next time you come visit -that is of course if I haven’t scared you off and you do decide to come back- you’ll have more funds to your name and can treat me.” Sunset gave my arm a gentle squeeze as we took a place in line for snacks.

“Right. As soon as I get home, actually finish my projects and make some sales, then eventually come back here and get the bits converted to whatever currency you use here, I'll get right on that.” I kept looking straight ahead at the front of the line, perusing the posted menus.

“Well take your time, don’t rush and make sure the finished product is something you can be proud of.” Sunset replied, giving a slight bump against me. I responded in kind by giving her an equal bump, though with a small smile in the corner of my mouth while deciding to leave out the fact that she was starting to sound like my parents.

“You wanna split a thing of popcorn or just get two?” I asked in a rather low tone of voice, tilting my head toward Sunset.

“I don’t mind sharing. You don’t eat popcorn a handful at a time do you?” she almost glared at me with this new question.

“Oh god no. Most of the time it's one to three pieces at a time.” I chuckled a tad with my answer. “It always bugs me when I share popcorn with someone who’ll fist the bag and take like, half of the total contents all in one go.”

“Heh, you and me both. Remind me to never share popcorn with Pinkie or Rainbow Dash again.” miss Shimmer remarked with a smirk as she recalled a couple of incidents in the past with the aforementioned girls.

“OK, don’t share popcorn with Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash.” I replied making Sunset burst into laughter, hiding it behind a hand before she settled down and gave me a light smack on the arm.

“Smart-ass.” she grinned, however my next slipped comment had both our eyes bug out.

“Maybe, but you still love me for it.” I didn’t even realize what I was saying until it had already escaped my lips, it was just a habitual thing for me to say. At this point Sunset realized that she was still clinging to my arm so quickly let it go and almost attempted to curl up as tightly as she could. “I am so sorry. I did not mean to say that. It’s just a habitual thing for me to say and I didn’t even realize I'd said it. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything.”

“N- no it’s alright. I believe you.” Sunset murmured in a quiet voice. “We all have things we say automatically without realizing it.”

“Still didn’t think that would be one of them, huh?” I mumbled back in response, making Sunset nod slowly; her face red. “I’ll, uh, get my own popcorn then; if it’s not to much trouble.”

“No, that’s fine. Like I said, I don’t mind sharing; I probably won’t end up eating the whole thing anyways.” Sunset replied, releasing her self-cuddle to stand up straight again. “Can we, maybe talk about this later?”

“Absolutely.” I replied as the two of us stepped up to the counter.

~~~

“Do you drink?” Sunset nearly jumped on me with the question. The movie had been two and a half hours of uncomfortable silence and the movie itself did nothing to alleviate the tension. So when Sunset asked me if I drink, I nearly exploded with relief for an outlet.

“Oh fuck yes.” I replied, the two of us aiming for her truck again. “Is there someplace you like to go for drinks or are you set up at your place?”

“There’s a bar nearby to my apartment we can go to. Obviously I'll put you on my tab for the time being.” Sunset explained as we stepping into an elevator to get to the parking lot where I'd parked.

“Judging by your enthusiasm for a stiff drink, I'm estimating that you’re legal to drink?” I whispered back as we now had additional passengers in the elevator car.

“Yeah, we graduate in a couple months; I've been legal since before the start of the year.” Sunset chuckled and the elevator slid to a halt. As soon as the doors opened and the cold air rushed in, Sunset had reattached herself to my arm however kept her eyes forward the entire walk back to her truck.

“Good. Good. Can’t have a minor drinking alcohol on my watch.” I mumbled back. Reaching into my pocket I hit the remote and started up the truck as we approached before unlocking the doors altogether and hopped inside.

~~~

“Sir, there are no pets allowed in the establishment.” a bartender announced as soon as she noticed Weiss’s head poking from my coat.

“It’s okay Berry, Weiss is a service dog.” Sunset explained as we took a table near towards the back of the room. Passing by a table I could hear a couple of men snicker into their beers as they watched me pass by.

“Heh, service dog for the service man. All them Military types need some kinda help sooner or later.” one man announced, not entirely trying to remain quiet about his comment.

“Bah, all them military guys are weak minded anyways. Breaks them down physically too, ya know?” the other replied, openly watching me from his seat.

“Just ignore them.” Weiss whispered as quietly as she could to prevent being heard by anyone else. “They’re probably drunk.”

“Oh I know they’re drunk. I could smell it on their breaths from a few tables over.” I whispered back with a smirk.

“Unfortunately,” Sunset began, looking at me with a hunched over back from our table, “Those two are notorious for instigating trouble in this bar. Once they’ve picked you out it’s only a matter of time till they try something.”

“Do you want to leave then? I’m sure we can find another bar somewhere else.” I suggested, hesitant to get comfortable if we’d be moving again.

“Nah, we’re fine here. As long as we remain friendly security won’t have a problem with us.” Sunset shrugged, pulling off her jacket and hung it on the back of the seat behind her. I shrugged an eyebrow and unzipped my own before setting Weiss down on a third seat next to me to pull off my own coat.

“So when do you want to talk about what happened at the theater?” I asked, looking directly at Sunset from across the table. Weiss remained silent however she stared directly at me or Sunset as we spoke.

“As soon as I get a drink in me.” Sunset sighed as a bartender appeared. “Rum-n-coke please?”

“Sure hon, and for you?” the woman turned to me with a notepad and pen.

“Rye’n’coke. You guys got a good kitchen?” I inquired as the woman took down my drink order. She nodded in reply, prompting me to continue. “Got a good steak sandwich?”

“Depends on who you ask I suppose. Can I get one for you?” she replied, pausing her writing to look directly at me. “Servicemen get a discount here, just so you know.”

“Yes, thanks. Make it medium rare por favor? Fries and gravy on the side?” I requested. The bartender nodded and wrote everything down before hurrying off. “Seems like a friendly enough bar.”

“Yeah, they’re usually really good with military. Ex-military or currently active doesn’t matter for them.” Sunset replied, resting her chin in her hand. We both remained silent until the drinks appeared, simply because we both knew what we wanted to talk about and neither of us wanted to say anything until we’d been alcohol’d.

As soon as both our glasses hit the table, we grabbed a hold of them and downed about half all at once before Sunset let out a sigh.

“OK, I wanna apologize for what I'd said earlier.” I began, rotating the glass in my hand on the table. “Like we’d established, it was just a habitual thing for me to say.”

“I know. It just surprised me is all.” Sunset replied, still hunched over as she swirled the fluids around in her own glass, staring intently through the glass.

“OK, then I've said everything I need to say.” I announced calmly, taking a smaller sip this time.

“Then let me.” Sunset looked up from her glass to me. “Guys don’t normally say things like that, even habitually, without there being something to it. So what is it?”

“What is what?” I sat back in my seat, resting my arm over the back of the chair.

“What is it that made you say something like that? Do you… do you feel anything?” the girl with the red and yellow hair looked back down at her glass again, rather than at me.

“Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We only just met, remember?” I reminded the girl, holding a finger up to interject before taking another drink.

“I’m aware, but that hasn’t stopped other people before.” Sunset rested her entire head on her arm, relaxing on the table surface for a while in silence.

“So what, you think I've fallen in love at first sight or something?”

“Well, did you?” Sunset raised her head back up to look at me inquisitively.

“Would it matter?” I retorted, completely aware that I was avoiding the question.

“I- I don’t know. You’re lack of answer does act as an answer, you know?” Sunset gave a tiny smirk as she rested her head back on the table again, slowly turning the glass on the tabletop.

“I’m aware. So let me answer your question with an ‘I don’t know’. I think the reason why I’d said that is maybe because of how you had been hanging off my arm the entire day. Perhaps I was just getting wrong signals.” I explained as I finished off my glass as the bartender came around with another round of drinks, swapping out glasses in my hand.

“I was cold.” Sunset mumbled defensively, sitting up to take another drink.

“I know, that’s what you’d said the first time you latched onto me. I had just gotten the wrong idea after I'd asked you if you’d be warm enough in that skirt of yours earlier. Some part of my mind must’ve been thinking, ‘Oh, she did that on purpose so that she’d come to you for additional warmth. Maybe she likes you!’ or something.” I replied, taking another drink.

Watching Sunset’s face as I did take my drink, I nearly choked on a mouthful as I could just barely see the signs of a raised eyebrow quickly lower again. Much like a regular “you’re not wrong” reaction.

“Wait, did you? Do you?” I hissed at her, lowering myself to the table to keep my voice down and directed at the girl.

“I- don’t know.” Sunset admitted, still turning her glass but looked conflicted. As though she wasn’t even sure about her answer.

“Well, that certainly changes things.” I sat back against the seat again, now tracing the rim of my glass with my finger.

“What does it change? So far we’ve established that neither of us knows whether or not we like each other. As far as I'm concerned it changes nothing.” Sunset decreed, looking up at me adamantly.

“No, it does change things. It establishes that both of us are trying to decide whether or not we like each other. It establishes that maybe there’s a potential for something more, something unexpected.” I explained in all seriousness.

“Do you want something more?” Sunset looked up at me with shining eyes. Something tells me she’d already established what she felt and was just staying reserved, just in case.

“Perhaps.” I admitted, making the lights in her eyes light up even more. “But, I can’t willingly go into a new relationship so quickly. Call me old fashioned, but I need to get to know a girl first.”

“I can understand that. So then let’s start there, if you’d like.” Sunset offered, earning herself a point in the pronoun game.

“Start where?” I was forced to ask for clarification and judging by Weiss’s expression, she was thinking the same thing.

“Well, you said that Equestria doesn’t let you introduce yourself with your name right? This isn’t Equestria. We can start with formal introductions. Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer.” she insisted, sticking out a hand over the table with a grin.

With a chuckle I took her hand in a handshake. “Hello, I’m Captain-” Goddammit!

“And here’s your order.” the bartender/waitress announced, interrupting me yet again as she placed down a plate with a pretty decent looking steak on a bun with some fries and a small pot of gravy on the side. Following the plate came a bottle of steak sauce of some kind and a glass bottle of vinegar. “Anything else I can get you two?”

“Another plate of fries for me, please?” Sunset piped up through snickering at my misfortunes. Chuckling to myself as well, I dipped a fry into the gravy to have a taste but judged it insufficiently thick to satisfy me so resorted to salting and dousing them in a bit of vinegar.

“That is a prime example of what happens if I try to give my name.” I explained with a mostly empty mouth. “I can give the title but as soon as I even think about giving a name, something happens to interrupt me.”

“What if you were to try and introduce yourself directly after the interruption?” Sunset suggested, stealing a fry from my plate.

“There are still those two guys from before. Knowing my luck the universe would use them next time.” I replied, looking back at the two guys glaring at me from a number of tables over.

“And what if you were completely alone? Have you ever tried just saying your name as just a word instead of an introduction?” Sunset sat back in her seat, nibbling on the fry until the waitress returned with another plate.

“So what, like ‘Dave’ or ‘Grace’?” I tossed a few more fries into my mouth.

“Yeah, what if you were to just say your name? Don’t try and introduce yourself this time.” Sunset’s suggestion had me at a pause. I’d never actually thought of that before.

“OK,” I took a breath to try out the idea, however as soon as I began to let out the air, the waitress reappeared again.

“And how is everything so far?” she asked with hands folded before her chest.

“Good. Not fond of the gravy though, I’ll probably try it on the steak instead.” I replied as Sunset’s hand met her face with a smirk on her lips. The waitress nodded and left again to tend to other customers as we both burst into stifled laughter.

“Wow, the universe really doesn’t like you!” Sunset remarked with calming breaths, her head resting on her hand.

“No kidding. I’m almost tempted to think that it’s just my name, too.” I replied, taking a quick drink before finally starting on the steak, dipping a bit of it into the gravy.

“So I suppose I’ll just have to call you Captain.” Sunset decided, turning back to her fries. Deciding that I just didn’t like the gravy at all, Sunset swiped it from my plate and drizzled her fries in it once I'd given her the go-ahead.

“Oh well. Whatever works I suppose.”

“How’s the steak?” Sunset inquired once I'd gotten through about half of the slab of meat.

“You know, it’s odd. It’s got the texture of being medium rare, but it’s completely browned through. Still juicy though.” I replied, a bit of steak juices squirting out between my teeth as I bit into a new piece.

“So I see.” Sunset chortled over the squishing juices as I ate. “Hey, so what’re you going to be doing for the night? Just going to head back home?”

“Probably, provided of course that I'm capable of doing so.” I replied with a swallow. “Twilight had me convinced that there was something I needed to do here to help this world. Since there’s no crisis that you know of, there’s no need for me to stay. Not unless someone gives me a reason to.” I explained, looking directly at Sunset as I added the last lines.

“Hey, no arguments from me. If you figure there’s nothing here for you then it’d probably be best for you to just go.” Sunset replied, looking slightly rejected. Now I had my final answer.

“Are you offering to put me up for the night if I do decide to stay?” I teasingly asked, washing down the steak with a mouthful of rye’n’coke.

“I… wouldn’t be opposed to such ideas.” Sunset replied equally as teasingly, still avoiding eye contact. “I mean, I obviously couldn’t let you sleep in my bed with me; I'd probably have to set you up on my couch.”

“I don’t remember seeing a couch in your tiny apartment, Sunset.” I reminded, even though I hadn’t seen most of her apartment in the first place from the front door.

“You can’t see it from the door. You’d have to had actually come into the apartment to see it.” Sunset Shimmer explained, now looking up at me. She was rather cute for a girl of her age.

Wait a second, what was our age difference?

“A thought just occurred to me. How old are you, anyways?” I almost demanded, slightly concerned.

“Twenty-two. Twenty three just after graduation in a couple months. I was already fairly older than the rest of the high school when I came over from Equestria, the portal just changed my appearance to look younger. When Twilight first came over with her magic, it kind of had the effect of undoing the change and I gradually caught up to my age. Why?” Sunset explained, looking warily at me. “How old are you?”

“I’m nearly twenty-nine. Enlisted in the Army at eighteen and impressed enough people to get myself up into an officer rank for twenty-seven. Shit, I hadn’t even thought of the age difference between us until now…” I pressed a hand to my head, staring at the table.

“What, you thought you were interested in a girl ten years your younger?” Sunset smirked with a raised eyebrow. “You’re not interested in such things, are you?”

“Hell no! That’s why I was getting so nervous!” I spat back, still staring at the table and at my mostly completed plate of meaty goodness. “But since you’re not ten years younger than me, it should be fine, right?” I looked up at the girl, her own pretty face lightening up my mood somewhat.

“Sure, if we decide to do anything or actually get together.” Sunset sat back with her arms crossed over her chest, shrugging.

“Right. Another thing, how are you with long distance relationships?” I asked, thinking back to how Weiss and I would be living in another world from Sunset.

“Why? Are you going somewhere?” Sunset sat up again, resting her forearms on the table around her plate of diminishing fries.

“I live in another world, remember? I probably wouldn’t be able to actually be here with you very often or for long durations of time. My own work would likely keep me highly occupied and I'm sure Princess Luna would have more ‘mercenary’ work for me sooner or later.” I explained, polishing off my glass in the process.

“You’re talking like you’re already together.” Weiss whispered from my coat, having pulled it off the back of my chair to turn it into a makeshift bed upon which she layed. “What about when Princess Luna finds out about this?”

“I have no interest in Princess Luna, remember? She is going to have to live with the fact that I've apparently found interest in someone of my own choosing.” I explained with a smile, gazing directly at Sunset’s lovely eyes.

“And she’s going to have to live with the fact that I feel the same way for him.” Sunset added with an equal smile on her face, gazing directly at me.

“So it looks to me like you’ve already made up your minds about where you stand with each other. Is it fair to guess-” Weiss suddenly shut up, making both of us humans turn to address her curiously before turning to address the lurking alcohol breath of the two drunks from before.

“Oi, we’ve decided that we don’t -hick- like you very much.” one man announced, placing his hand on my shoulder forcefully.

“Yeah, we dun like -hick- you verrr much.” the second one parroted.

“So I see. Now would you release my shoulder and go back to your drinks?” I requested, looking up at the drunk with his hand on my shoulder, slowly trying to apply pressure.

“Nope.” Shoulder squeezer replied with a toothy grin. “We’s gon take -hick- you out back an’ show you just how much -hick- we’s dun like you.”

“Yeah, and prove that the -hick- army faggots aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.” the second one replied, making my eye twitch at the disrespect for my brothers and sisters-in-arms.

“And when we do, -hick- we’s gon have some fun with your little -hick- bitch here.” the first one added, still grinning like an idiot soon to be with no teeth.

“Did you just call Sunset a bitch?” I demanded in a low voice, making Weiss’s eyes go wide as I'm sure she could begin to recognize the look on my face. “Did you just call my Sunset Shimmer, a bitch?”

“What’s happening?” Sunset leaned over to Weiss, concerned.

“We need to make sure Captain gets outside before security shows up.” Weiss whispered back as quietly and subtly as she could. “Otherwise it won’t be just these two getting a beat-down.”

“No one calls anyone I like a bitch.” I explained, still low and terrifyingly calm. “Not my mother, not Sunset Shimmer, not even my ex. Definitely no one disrespected the military by calling them faggots.” I stood from my seat, pushing it back with my legs as I stood to my full height; taking the man’s wrist on my shoulder in my own hand and began to apply pressure of my own.

“OK, we really need to get him outside.” Weiss announced, now not caring to remain quiet. “Sunset, you have to get him out of here!”

“How?” the girl demanded, watching me warily.

“Try asking him to! He likes you, you should be able to get through to him!” Weiss replied, hoping from her seat into Sunset’s arms as the girl made to stand up.

“Hey, Captain. Why don’t you take this outside where there’s space?” Sunset asked gingerly, carefully approaching me and the other two guys from my side of the table. She wasn’t going to risk getting anywhere near those two drunks.

“An excellent idea.” I smirked, tightening my grip on the man’s wrist with my fingertips right in the tendons that controlled his fingers; threatening to injure him if he didn’t cooperate.

Leaving my white camouflage coat behind, I led the man out painfully by his wrist; almost dragging them into the parking lot before throwing him ahead of me to let him stumble around before collecting himself.

Ignoring the biting night winter winds, I cleared my throat and took a fighting stance; cracking my knuckles single-handedly in the process.

“Are you going to be okay?” Sunset demanded from behind me, carrying my coat in her arms as she fought to put her own on with a dog in one hand helping her as best as Weiss could with paws.

“I’ll be fine. Call them an ambulance though.” I replied with a non-subsiding grin.

At that moment my challenger attacked, charging me head on with a tight fist and a loose form. I responded in turn with a sidestep and brought my own fist up into his cheek, instantly fracturing his jaw though I’m sure his level of inebriation numbed the new pain.

He howled and charged at me again, this time actually remembering to throw a punch at me. I instead caught his arm and spun while reaching behind him to grab hold of the back of his belt and crouched over, hoisting him up onto my back with my legs as my shoulder continued to turn, bringing the attacker over my shoulder and to the ground.

Keeping a hold of his arm, I dropped down after him and without so much thought, pulled back hard and popped his elbow out of place; the intended effect of dislocating his elbow had the challenger howling out in new pain as I rolled backwards onto my feet to address the second man now giving me a drunken death glare.

And his firearm gleaming in the moonlight.

Unfortunately for me he was faster than I'd thought, or he wasn’t as drunk as I'd hoped and I was getting slow, and pulled the trigger. The burst of audio signals made quite a few people around us and inside the establishment shriek as I felt the relatively familiar burst of intense heat suddenly strike me in the leg as I lunged forwards.

Bringing my forearm into the man’s wielding arm, I brought my free hand up and grasped the barrel of the pistol from underneath and continued to lift it up so that the muzzle pointed upwards as the man’s index finger audibly snapped from refusing to let go.

Before I could bring the butt of the gun down on his head, a blue fist struck the back of his cranium and sent him crumpling to the ground to reveal a head of prismatic hair poking out from under a toque.

Hitting the safety I pulled the magazine out and unchambered the weapon before pulling the pin on the gun to pull the barrel off entirely, dropping all parts to the snow beneath me; save for the magazine and bullet.

“Oh my gosh are you alright?” Sunset demanded, running up to attend to me and drape my coat over my shoulders.

“What the heck happened Sunset?” Rainbow Dash demanded, looking down at me as I collapsed onto my backside, already trying to put pressure to my leg over the bullet wound.

“I was shot.” I explained in a hoarse voice before the lack of blood caught up to me.

Author's Note

Hurray for long ass chapters!

I'll be honest, I was aiming for a 20/30 page thing in GDoc for both this and the next chapter together... Already reached 26 pages with just this first part and I haven't even touched the second one yet. Was kind of aiming for an episodic movie type deal here and I think I'm doing pretty good so far.

As always, comments and support is welcomed, editorial suggestions are also welcome, criticism is welcome.

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